Madison — After being off during the first week of bowl preparation so his body could heal, Wisconsin tight end Lance Kendricks is back at work.

"I'm full-go," Kendricks said after practice Tuesday.

Kendricks, who enters the Rose Bowl leading UW in receptions, receiving yards and touchdown receptions, was wearing a green, no-contact jersey.

Yet, as he noted with a grin, that is a precautionary measure he has been using for most of the season to remind his defensive teammates to stay away.

"I'm wearing a green jersey but it kind of doesn't mean anything," he said. "I just wear it for show. I've been wearing it for a long time."

Kendricks, named a second-team All-American by the Associated Press on Tuesday, was in a jovial mood.

He wasn't smiling, however, after being injured in the first half of the regular-season finale against Northwestern.

While catching a 29-yard touchdown pass in the end zone, Kendricks landed hard on the football, with his chest leading the way.

The ball tore into Kendricks' chest and he appeared to be spitting up blood while down on the field.

"It was scary," Kendricks said. "I didn't know what was going on."

Kendricks said after the game he suffered a bloody nose and the blood trickled into his throat and mouth as he was trying to catch his breath.

However, he acknowledged Tuesday he later learned he had suffered a bruised lung.

"Pulmonary contusion is the doctor's term," he said. "What happened is the ball pressed so hard it bruised my lung. And that's where the blood was coming from."

That diagnosis came one week after the Northwestern game.

"The doctor looked some stuff up online and he found a couple cases where other players fell on the ball and the same thing happened to them," Kendricks said. "But they healed in a week. And my bleeding stopped a while ago."

Kendricks had four receptions for 80 yards against Northwestern before being injured. He enters the Rose Bowl with 39 receptions for 627 yards and five touchdowns.

Not only does the fifth-year senior from Milwaukee King High School lead the team in each of those categories, all are personal bests.

That is even more impressive when you consider Kendricks battled injures to his left shoulder, right knee and right ankle before suffering the bruised lung.

Kendricks said he hasn't worried about those numbers and wasn't even aware the All-America team was being announced Tuesday.

His older brother broke the news via text message.

"I had no idea," he said. "It's crazy, but this team, nobody knows what is going on outside of football, which is great. That's how it should be. You should be focused on the games."